Office politics can seem like a harmless activity. After all, isn’t there something fun about standing by the water dispenser having a good old gossip with a colleague? Well, it can seem tempting, but the reality is that it can often turn from harmless comments into full scale bullying. And remember that other people may be talking about you in your absence, so office politics can often be something that is not pleasant and can cause many people to feel stressed at work. Or people find that it gets so bad that they have to leave their jobs in a hurry, desperately taking the first opportunity that a recruitment agency finds for them.

So how do you avoid office politics? Well the best way to avoid getting drawn into office politics is to refuse to be drawn into any politics or back stabbing that is going on. Don’t join in with any comments or impart any confidences that have been told to you. When colleagues try to drag you in and ask for your comment on something, simply smile and say something non-committal and non-judgemental. Eventually they should get the message that you just aren’t into the kind of gossiping and games that they are into.

The office is basically like a smaller version of the outside world so you have good people, bad people, nosy people and in short, all kinds of people who have been thrown together for work. But that doesn’t mean that you have to be bosom buddies with everyone, you can still get on with people, but you don’t have to be the person that the whole office revolves around. Keeping your distance, whilst still being professional, warm and friendly, just not into gossip or talking about colleagues and other staff behind their backs, will help you to avoid the pitfalls that can occur when people engage in office politics without thinking of the consequences.